Authors: Samb F, Coulibaly P, Leye MMM.
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic remains a public health problem despite the lulls between waves. Achieving the goal of broad vaccination coverage is of paramount importance, particularly for populations at risk of severe forms of COVID-19. Hence the interest in studying vaccination among women attending post-natal consultations in the Sakal Health District.
Methodology: A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study was conducted from 28 June to 27 October 2022. The study population consisted of women who had given birth and/or come for a postnatal consultation in the Sakal health district. Data were analysed using R 4.2 software.
Results: The mean age of the women surveyed was 26.56±6 years, with extremes of 17 to 43 years. The median age was 25 years. The age groups most represented were [20-30], with a proportion of 50.6%. More than 80% of these women were uneducated (30.4%) or had no more than primary education (51.4%). A further 17% had completed secondary education, and only 1.2% had completed higher education. A quarter of these women had an incomegenerating activity (15.2%). Almost ¾ of respondents had a television at home (70.2%) and a telephone (73.1%). Of those who had a phone, more than half (65.1%) had a smartphone, almost all of which had access to social networks (96.3%). The types of social network whose use was significantly associated with vaccination against COVID-19 were: WhatsApp (p=0.004), Facebook (p=0.008), TikTok (p=0.021) and YouTube (p=0.015). YouTube was the source of information with a statistically significant association with vaccination against COVID-19 (p=0.015). The next three elements, i.e. knowledge of previous COVID-19 infection (p=0.01), knowledge of someone who had been infected with the disease (p=0.042) and knowledge of available COVID-19 vaccines (p<0.001) were significantly linked to vaccination against COVID-19. Women who were aware of the available COVID-19 vaccines were 8.33 times more likely to be vaccinated. All the women surveyed were married, 25.7% of whom had been vaccinated, and those whose spouses had been vaccinated were 7.3 times more likely to be vaccinated in turn (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate the need to raise awareness of COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant women, with the full involvement of the spouse. Priority should be given to raising awareness of the seriousness of COVID-19 in pregnant women, the benefits of being vaccinated and, of course, reassurance about the safety of the available COVID-19 vaccines.
View/Download pdf